Chapter 36
How far down had he come?
‘Is this below the tomb?’
At the end of the seemingly endless staircase was a massive iron door. Next to it was a recognition device.
A warning message caught his eye.
<Warning! If your face is recognized, it will be eternally imprinted on the beings inside.>
Yeah, it was clear now that the ones doing the ‘imprinting’ were the ghosts.
Eternally imprinted on the ghosts?
Given his body’s tendency to constantly get entangled with ghosts no matter what he did, having his face stamped a few more times now wouldn’t make much difference.
As he stood right in front of the device, a red light shot out and began scanning his face like a barcode, recognizing Dan Su-hyeok.
[Recognized.]
[Entry permitted.]
Clunk.
The massive iron door began to slowly open. Beyond it stretched a plain, white, patternless corridor.
[Welcome, Visitor!]
He looked up. The cheerful female voice was coming from a speaker on the ceiling.
It was a damn familiar voice.
[Or should I say, welcome back, Return Visitor? Hehe.]
‘Why am I hearing that voice here?’
It was a voice he couldn’t forget even if he tried.
It was the host of the building who had forced them into the escape room game, calling it a game of memories. He had never seen her face, though.
He had died twice in that game.
For unknown reasons, even when he regressed, some of the ghosts he encountered in previous cycles remembered Dan Su-hyeok.
Unfortunately, it was mostly the ghosts who had given him a hard time.
The owner of this voice was probably the same.
‘But that was in a tall building then.’
This wasn’t a building; it was an underground space beneath a cemetery. So why was he hearing that voice?
[Now that I think about it, this is your first time underground, right?]
Underground.
So that was it. This was the underground that Dan Su-hyeok hadn’t even dared to think about.
‘The auction house where the eliminated were forcibly taken was underground, right?’
He hadn’t felt the need to go to the auction house back then, so he had just left the building.
‘…Had I known this would happen, I should have gone down to check it out then.’
Even if he died this time and regressed, there was no guarantee he would meet Ma Cho-yeon again.
[Hehe. Don’t be too scared.]
[This place isn’t meant to threaten your life like last time, Return Visitor.]
[It’s an elegant space for appreciating beautiful exhibits.]
It was the same entity that had suggested treasures could be body parts. The ‘beautiful exhibits’ were probably human body parts or organs too.
[Shall I get you a welcome drink?]
“No.”
He took a step forward.
Then, a stain began to form on the wall beside him.
[Hehe. We had an Iced Eyeball Smoothie prepared. What a pity.]
The stained wall soon turned transparent, revealing the scene inside.
It was the auction house.
[Isn’t it beautiful?]
From the walls to the ceiling and floor, Dan Su-hyeok’s surroundings were becoming transparent. Yeah, it was like being in an aquarium.
The difference was that the things swimming outside weren’t fish, but people.
People with no limbs or expressions were swaying their torsos as they moved through the water.
Ironically, perhaps because of the transparent water, the scene felt somewhat beautiful.
It was a crazy thought.
‘It’s always like this when I come here.’
Even during the games, he would sometimes applaud or have thoughts he normally wouldn’t, regardless of his own intention.
It was as if he was being assimilated by the ghosts.
[It’s a method to maintain the freshness of the products. The customers prefer them fresher, you see.]
[Humans value meat differently depending on how it’s raised, right? The quality varies.]
[It’s the same here! Hehe.]
[We borrowed from human wisdom.]
What wisdom?
Dan Su-hyeok spotted the body of a man passing below his feet. The empty eyes he met seemed to whisper.
Save me, please get me out of here.
Dan Su-hyeok deliberately looked away.
[Your lack of reaction is disappointing. We put effort into this place to welcome your visit.]
At the end of this creepy, aquarium-like place was a pitch-black curtain.
[Once you go inside, you’ll need to be quiet.]
[It’s a place where you must also appreciate the sounds.]
[Since it’s been a while, and for a special return visitor, I’ll assign you a guide.]
A guide?
Did she mean that creepy little kid ghost he met in the treasure hunt game?
He pushed aside the curtain. There was an unfamiliar being there.
“Ah.”
The other party also reacted, as if they had spotted Dan Su-hyeok. They simultaneously looked each other up and down.
‘…Is it human?’
He didn’t feel the characteristic unease associated with ghosts. However, seeing the hands that were flipped back and forth, it probably wasn’t human.
It was a male student wearing the same school uniform as Dan Su-hyeok.
He was tall with long, model-like limbs. His dark brown hair was curly, as if permed.
Objectively, he was good-looking, but his droopy eyes made him look ill-tempered. Of course, Dan Su-hyeok was just scanning him indifferently to figure out his identity.
“Welcome, Return Visitor?”
His tone, mimicking the radio voice, was indifferent. His expression was full of dissatisfaction, as if he was forced to say this.
The way his emotions were so clear on his face reminded him of someone.
‘Even so, that’s a ghost.’
Dan Su-hyeok didn’t answer. The other party didn’t seem to have expected one either.
There was a name tag on the uniform, but it was too scratched up to read the name.
“Follow me.”
Dan Su-hyeok followed the lanky figure walking ahead.
‘Where is Ma Cho-yeon?’
Was she in the auction house, or was she playing an escape room game on the surface like him?
Wherever she was, it was a dangerous place for her. Even more so because she was an ordinary person who couldn’t regress.
“I’ll just show you the main spots, so take a quick look. I’m only guiding you here, then I have to go back up.”
The explanation was half-hearted. Yet, the radio voice didn’t stop him.
“Can’t I see the upper level?”
“You can go up, but why would you? You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
It sounded like a reproach, asking why he wanted to go up when he should know what was there.
He must be a ghost… but that tone, that condescending expression, why did it feel like…?
“There’s someone I’m looking for.”
“Are they even a person? They might already be dead.”
“They haven’t been here long.”
“Oh, really? Well, did you see the aquarium on your way in? Maybe they’re in there?”
Dan Su-hyeok’s brow furrowed deeply.
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“Neither am I in the mood to be serious.”
The male student stopped walking, stood crookedly, and looked back at Dan Su-hyeok.
“There’s something on the upper level that’s on my mind, so I need to get back up quickly.”
“Did you find some toy you want to kill or something?”
“What are you talking about? You really have a ghost-friendly way of thinking.”
“……”
“Unlike you, there’s a kid here who came in without knowing anything.”
“Is he wearing the same school uniform as us?”
He asked, wondering if it could be Ma Cho-yeon. His voice was quite urgent, though he didn’t realize it himself.
“School uniform? Hmm.”
The male student frowned.
“Including you, I can’t properly see the faces or appearances of others. It’s not that my eyesight is bad, I just can’t recognize them.”
He stretched out his hand and waved it around near Dan Su-hyeok’s neck.
“Are you about this tall?”
“Taller than that.”
“Aha. So your build looks different too. I can tell you have a rude personality. Gender?”
He couldn’t even recognize that much?
Dan Su-hyeok answered shortly that he was male and continued his questions.
“If you can’t even recognize appearances, how do you know the one you’re concerned about is a child?”
“He came up to about my waist. And even if he’s not necessarily a child, seeing how he was trembling and trying to escape the game, he’s probably pretty young.”
Only up to his waist? So it wasn’t Ma Cho-yeon.
But he couldn’t completely trust the testimony of someone who couldn’t even properly gauge his own height.
‘This is troublesome. There must be a reason the Quick Service ghost brought me here.’
He didn’t know if Ma Cho-yeon was underground or on the surface.
“But you said he’s wearing the same school uniform, so I guess you’re a student too. Which school?”
Why was he asking that?
“Ah. Just like I can’t recognize others, others can’t properly recognize my appearance either.”
The male student pointed to his own face.
“Apparently, everyone who sees me sees something different. Some say I wear glasses, others say I look like an old man.”
Why was that?
It was as if this male student’s true identity must not be revealed.
“Dongsan High School.”
“Dongsan High School, huh. I wonder if that’s really the school I attended.”
“You don’t remember your past life either?”
“Nope.”
“…What about siblings?”
It was unlikely that such a big guy was the younger brother Ma Cho-yeon was looking for, but thinking his real appearance might be that of a middle school student, he asked anyway.
The male student shook his head.
“I don’t remember that either. But since I’m concerned about that kid upstairs, maybe I had a younger sibling?”
So it wasn’t Ma Cho-yeon’s brother.
“Just follow me for now. I wondered why they summoned me here right after the eye-spy and treasure hunt games, but it seems they knew you were coming.”
Dan Su-hyeok followed the male student.
“If you’re lucky, you might find what you’re looking for here.”
Lucky? It was probably the opposite.
If he really… found Ma Cho-yeon in the auction house, what should he do?
‘…Will I be able to find Ma Cho-yeon even after regression?’
If Ma Cho-yeon was already dead and Dan Su-hyeok couldn’t escape here, he would die too.
He didn’t know at what point he would regress, but if he regressed again, it seemed he would have to try looking for Ma Cho-yeon then.
Even though, as always, no one would remember Dan Su-hyeok.
‘If I meet her after regression, I need to warn her more clearly not to use these kinds of ghost stories.’
The thought of a Ma Cho-yeon who didn’t remember him already felt a bit strange.
